Quotes of the day

posted at 9:00 pm on August 28, 2010 by Allahpundit

Mr. Beck made a surprise visit on Friday to a convention held by FreedomWorks, a Tea Party umbrella group, for Tea Party supporters. He received a thunderous welcome from a crowd of about 1,600 in Constitution Hall.

He told the crowd that he had begun planning his march on Washington a year ago, thinking “it was supposed to be political.”

“My role, as I see it, is to wake America up to the backsliding of principles and values and most of all of God,” he said. “We are a country of God. As I look at the problems in our country, quite honestly, I think the hot breath of destruction is breathing on our necks and to fix it politically is a figure that I don’t see anywhere.”

***
In a way, the rally today mirrored rallies held for then-candidate Barack Obama in 2007 and leading up to the election of 2008. Both this rally and many of Obama’s featured mesmerizing speakers, who chose to inspire audiences by rhetorically empowering them to take matters into their own hands.

Only toward the end of the program did Beck refer to Democrats, Republicans, and independents. But it still wasn’t political. It was a unity call, imploring everyone to come together and unite to “restore honor.” It was a post-partisan moment. Similar, in a way, to Obama’s 2004 DNC speech, when the then-state senator from Illinois suggested that we should not remain isolated in a “red America” or a “blue America,” but should come together as the United States of America.

***
We need to think about the success of Beck’s rally Saturday and ask what it says about the lack of moral authority in this country today. We also need to wonder what it says about us as a culture that so many Americans on a Saturday in August and more than two million a day via Fox News come to Beck and apparently hear something in his hodge-podge of elementary-school history and mishmash of moral platitudes and bromides that they find meaningful.

Moral authority — that’s what the rally was really about. That’s what the bagpipes playing “Amazing Grace” at the end of the rally were all about. That’s what all the talk of standing on “hallowed ground” was all about. That’s what the repeated use of words like “honor,” “integrity” and “trust” were all about…

That’s what what was so powerful about November 2008 in Grant Park when Barack Obama took the stage on election night: Millions of Americans thought they were watching someone who brought moral authority to the White House. I know I did.

Sadly, millions now feel Obama has since lost it with too many morning-after flip-flops on moral issues, entertainment TV show appearances, and days on the golf course as the economy struggles.

***
“Restoration” is a theme he has a gift for: a gift not only of analytical insight but of personal experience with balancing justice and mercy, and distinguishing between self-deception and realistic hope.

And he’s right about this, too: America can’t be set on a better course solely with changes in federal policy. Law and government don’t – can’t – make the people good. They don’t make us eligible for liberty. Our law and government are only as good as we are. It’s the people who have to change. And spiritual revival never looks like something organized by State Department protocol; when people are changing from the inside, there are rallies, hortatory preaching, gabfests, sorrow, joy.

I urge my fellow conservatives not to despise this phenomenon or be disparaging about it. All our futures depend on the character of the people around us. Fear, defensiveness, and moral weakness in the people are the best friends of the tyrant. None of us can resist the siren-call of statist collectivization single-handedly. It is not embarrassing or over-the-top for people to gather in public to affirm that there’s such a thing as good character, and that we can’t do without it. It is meaningful and life-changing to many. It is necessary.

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How do you know? You weren’t even alive then. You are basing your statement on what you’ve been told by others, and what you’ve been taught by others. In other words, you’re assuming something, and treating it as fact, when you never lived thru it yourself.

Del Dolemonte on August 29, 2010 at 10:42 AM

I was around back then, in fact I was a child then..and so to me in some ways it seems like an idyllic time. But of course there were problems, there always are. I think the whole world has changed so much that it is almost impossible to make the comparison. People were happier because they were often times more satisfied with what they had..it was all they knew. But technology has changed things so much that sometimes I wonder if we can really compare times and judge when people were happier. I am not sure people know how to be happy anymore.

We can always do better. Always. But we have to make the attempt. It doesn’t have to be about God, it just has to be where we each aren’t the center of our own universe. I think it’s doable simply because a lot of Americans want to be better people, we just need to try all the time, not just in disasters. And we need to demand honesty and forethought from our representatives. Chris Christie has mentioned talking like adults numerous times, and it’s time to know the truth about where we are and what it will take to get us back to where we can all be comfortable. We need to be realistic about what the government can do and what we have to take care of ourselves. Stop turning over our responsibilities to strangers and tripling the costs of barely getting by.

We are a nation in which the majority of people are Christians. “Christian nation” to me seems like an oxymoron. Christ and the State don’t mix.

ddrintn on August 28, 2010 at 11:02 PM

Christian nation and Christian government are different things. If you read the writings of the Founding Fathers, they most distinctly believed that America was a Christian nation, and needed to remain so.

We need renewal: fresh ideas to cut through complicated problems and restore our strength. Creative and bold, Romney proposes simple solutions to rebuild industry, create good jobs, reduce out of control spending on entitlements and healthcare, dramatically improve education, and restore a military battered by eight years of war. Most important, he calls for a new commitment to citizenship, a common cause we all share, rather than a laundry list of individual demands. Many of his solutions oppose President Obama’s policies, many also run counter to Republican thinking, but all have one strategic aim: to move America back to political and economic strength.

…it just has to be where we each aren’t the center of our own universe.
Cindy Munford on August 29, 2010 at 10:55 AM

I agree completely.

Justrand on August 29, 2010 at 10:58 AM

Talking about restoring honor is all great and good, but as has been shown with this thread, its tough to visualize an America with “restored honor”. What would this America look like? How would it come about? In what ways would public policy affect such a restoration? I want to get out of the vague platitudes and into the reality of the situation. Specifically: exactly what has to be done, why, and by whom?

Terrye on August 29, 2010 at 10:26 AM
We watched that interview, recorded it, re-watched it, Terry.
The Repub stuff was one or perhaps two freaking sentences.
Proving his consistancy, is all.
(Not comfortable with the direction it was all steering the country into.)
Chill.

ernesto…a few Republicans (Palin, Bachman, Demint, et al). ZERO Democrats even TALK about restoring honor. I’ll take a FEW Repubs over ZERO Dems any day.
Justrand on August 29, 2010 at 10:58 AM

You have to understand how liberal theology works: The only sin the Church Of Liberalism recognizes is that of hypocrisy.

Therefore, as long as a liberal accepts his church’s sole cannon: Thou Shalt Have No Standards, then he is not merely forgiven of sin, he is utterly incapable of doing anything that his theology considers “wrong.”

This makes everyone who HAS standards (regardless of how well or poorly they adhere to them) a “hypocrite” in the eyes of liberals. They see all conservatives as not simply wrong, but the very source of all evil.

That is why liberals are the ultimate fanatics. Telling them someone is TRYING to do something good has the same effect on a liberal as throwing blood in the water has on sharks.

The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations. This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution.

The government of the United States is not in any sense founded upon the Christian religion.

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

Ernie is all about the lowest common denominator. Expecting honesty and integrity from our elected officials is too much to ask. To expect them to do the right things rather than the politically expedient things is too much. The Constitution is just a guide to a few and nothing to others. Ernie likes this world and would rather be obtuse. What an idiot.

In fact Ernie doesn’t even get that the Constitution is THE LAW of THE LAND. Honor means not breaking the law . It does not mean dismissing it as Ernie does and pretending there is not a way to change as Ernie pretends. Ernie is dishonest and would not know honor and integrity if it bit him in the arse.

Talking about restoring honor is all great and good, but as has been shown with this thread, its tough to visualize an America with “restored honor”. What would this America look like? How would it come about? In what ways would public policy affect such a restoration? I want to get out of the vague platitudes and into the reality of the situation. Specifically: exactly what has to be done, why, and by whom?

ernesto on August 29, 2010 at 11:14 AM

Beck laid out a course in his speech yesterday. It starts with all of us telling the truth, to ourselves, our loved ones, our bosses and employees, and our communities.

Imagine how different our country would be if everyone simply told the truth: about their motives, about their real opinions of themselves and of each other, about the products and services they sell, about our own shortcomings.

So much of what has gone wrong in this country is because of people who have simply lied. People lied to get mortgages they didn’t qualify for. Banks lied to the people they sold those loans to, and to their regulators. Regulators lied to Congfress about how safe the banks were. Congress lied to the public about the safety and soundness of Fanmnie Mae and Freddie Mac.

I personally believe our current President is a very accomplished liar. He has lied about who he really is, he lied about the church he attended for 20 years, he lied about his experience and claimed he was actually qualified to be President because his campaign was so well run. He lied about his association with Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. His entire campaign of “transforming America” was a lie designed to give false hope to a lot of people that he was somehow different and better than all the other politicians who had come before him. He lied about cutting taxes for the middle class.

…Bush never pretended to be anything he was not and he did not deserve to demonized by the left and abandoned by people like Beck.

Terrye on August 29, 2010 at 10:47 AM

I too respect Bush. I didn’t see Beck on Fox this morning, but I’ve never seen him bash Bush beyond his economic compromises and ineffectiveness at promoting his policies or free market ideals.

As much as I respect Bush for tax cuts, no child left behind and the the Iraq war, his afore mentioned deficiencies enabled the housing bubble that led to the financial crisis. Then his bailouts spread the trillion dollar responsibility from the financial institutions to the rest of America and set the precedent for acceptance of BO’s tripling of it as well as BO’s dismantling of largely free markets.

THAT is why Bush deserves to be abandoned as an example for policy of reform. Reagan would have never done any of that. Bush’s failures dwarf Reagan’s mistake with amnesty. I’m not a mind reader so I don’t know why Beck doesn’t disparage Reagan as much as he does Bush, but that’s why he shouldn’t do so.

I’m not as sure that Bush’s failures dwarf Reagan’s in Lebanon, and our retreat’s role in promoting Islamic militancy, but that’s another story.

The name of the rally really says it all. It was not Restoring God, it was Restoring Honor. This is why it can appeal to believers and non-believers. If the individual has honor they will act honorably and expect others to do so. Simple yet profound. If you have a President (or cop or school board president or grocery store clerk etc.) who is honorable, you can disagree with his policies, but you can trust his motives. That is what we are sorely lacking and what is so corrosive to civil society. Christianity is one way to obtain a moral compass to live an honorable life, but not the only way. Perhaps we should drop the stones instead of casting them. Just a thought.

Beck greatly admires Ronald Reagan and George Washington…and recognizes the worthlessness of Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi. I agree.

Beck is saying he would NOT want our rights “endowed” by Ronald Reagan or George Washington any more that he would want them endowed by Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi. Again, I agree.

Our Founders attributed the endowment of our rights to “the Creator” for a reason. Part of Beck’s slamming of Republicans is to reenforce that principle. It’s also to remind Republicans that being better than Democrats is not the goal…FREEDOM is the goal.

What would this America look like? How would it come about? In what ways would public policy affect such a restoration? I want to get out of the vague platitudes and into the reality of the situation. Specifically: exactly what has to be done, why, and by whom?

ernesto on August 29, 2010 at 11:14 AM

Why is it so hard for you to understand honor and integriy? They’re fairly basic concepts. The men and women who founded this nation had them. They pledged their lives and fortunes to their cause.

Why are so so concerned with policy? Doesn’t policy itself become well founded when conceived by people of honor and integrity?

What has to be done? Ask yourself. What does honor and integrity mean to you. Are you honorable? Do you have integrity? If not, what do you have to do to restore them in yourself? That’s what Beck is saying individuals must ask themselves … that includes you.

I was around back then, in fact I was a child then..and so to me in some ways it seems like an idyllic time. But of course there were problems, there always are. I think the whole world has changed so much that it is almost impossible to make the comparison. People were happier because they were often times more satisfied with what they had..it was all they knew. But technology has changed things so much that sometimes I wonder if we can really compare times and judge when people were happier. I am not sure people know how to be happy anymore.
Terrye on August 29, 2010 at 10:53 AM

Being happy in a tumultuous world is possible. That is what Beck’s talk of honor is about really. Happiness is built on principles, values, self-respect.

One cannot be happy without honor. Without integrity and honor every accomplishment is hollow and meaningless.

I think Beck is uniquely positioned to see the bottom our country is reaching. Our addiction to living beyond our means is a lot like alcoholism. I don’t know all that much about the 12 step programs but it strikes me that Beck’s answer has a lot in common with them.

We collectively have replaced God with wealth. It is good to take stock of our lives and our priorities as a nation.

We can be happy and be poor and not well respected if we are right with God.

But if we are at odds with God nothing else will bring that happiness.

Bringing God back into our national life puts us back on the true course that pursues happiness. Happiness is not unatainable. But it can’t be found in bitterness and dishonesty.

Haha. You sound like a five year old. This little game disparaging the call for honor is just silly. You really need to grow up.

You are a liar right. We know that you lack integrity and honor. You have admitted to HA previously that you have sex with men and women . Unfortunately for your partners you are not honest with them. Don’t you think that the women deserve to know in the age of AIDs? No condoms are not 100 percent perfect.

It just dawned on me. Ernie reminds of kids in my high school and college classes who would ask questions just to be noticed and to make themselves think that others would think they are smart. Deja Vu.

Ernie psst quit with your lies, distortions, and word games. I realize that if you do these things you won’t be posting anymore.

Im honest to my partners. You lie when you say otherwise. You stalk me on this website and do nothing but assault my character for no particular reason whatsoever. Please, find something more interesting to do with your time than slander me.

Certainly the country class lacks its own political vehicle — and perhaps the coherence to establish one. In the short term at least, the country class has no alternative but to channel its political efforts through the Republican Party, which is eager for its support. But the Republican Party does not live to represent the country class. For it to do so, it would have to become principles-based, as it has not been since the mid-1860s. The few who tried to make it so the party treated as rebels: Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. The party helped defeat Goldwater. When it failed to stop Reagan, it saddled his and subsequent Republican administrations with establishmentarians who, under the Bush family, repudiated Reagan’s principles as much as they could.

You’re very tiresome. When would you say it happened? Why do you think it happened? What should we do so it doesn’t happen anymore? Should we make sure it doesn’t happen again? Why?
darwin on August 29, 2010 at 12:22 PM

that’s the funniest thing I’ve read all morning.
Gang-of-One on August 29, 2010 at 12:49 PM

Did you ever see the Robin Williams routine, about how his two-year-old kept pestering him with existential questions.

Finally he snapped: “Ten minutes ago you were Sh*tting your pants. And now you’re freaking Buddha?”

“While Beck’s rally emphasized belief in God, Obama’s generally emphasized himself as a savior of the American people.”

That is it. The sum total. The entire problem in a single sentence. A hater, raised by affluent haters, plays the accident of his birth into faux-victimhood, and spends his lifetime seeking out fellow haters in an echo chamber of ideological bankruptcy.

So invested in the narrative are the haters of the Left they never bother to ask the real questions.

Why isn’t the son of an African an example of what is WRONG with “Affirmative Action” for actual African-Americans?

While his wife dumped patients, Obama threw away tax-payer dollars on Marxist indoctrination for public schools and “public housing” that enriched his cronies and produced no results all while bathing in the adoration of fellow racist haters.

That… was the sum total of Barack Hussein Obama’s lifetime of achievements and qualifications for public office.

It isn’t racist to say Barack Hussein Obama is unqualified but it is racist to say Barack Hussein Obama is…

Well after reading through all the posts, I am amazed that people on the right are being petty, small and narrow minded. For crying out loud, Beck isn’t preaching Mormon Doctrine. Are you saying that if a Mormon came to your church as a guest, you wouldn’t go, or pray?

That said, I was happy to see more and more people rally behind Beck…and behind what he is trying to accomplish.

Oh and on those couple of posts complaining we didn’t storm the capital because of the issue of abortion, wow. Here’s the thing, abortion is a moral issue, that part is true…which is why it is important to bring back God to the public square. Because abortion will not be solved with Justices on the Supreme court, or with the right President, or the right congress, it is a moral issue, therefore it will not be solved by force. It is changed in the heart, and for the heart to even be changed we have to take the first step and recognize God. Then as science improves and young women see their babies in their womb, the chances that they will make the right decision improves dramatically.

Talking about restoring honor is all great and good, but as has been shown with this thread, its tough to visualize an America with “restored honor”. What would this America look like? How would it come about? In what ways would public policy affect such a restoration? I want to get out of the vague platitudes and into the reality of the situation. Specifically: exactly what has to be done, why, and by whom?

ernesto on August 29, 2010 at 11:14 AM

America pre-abortion, was a land of honor. America pre-murder of 40 MILLION babies, was an honorable America.

Stop the carnage, amend OUR Constitution, respect and restore the God given right to life of every human being, and as surely as night follows day, honor will return to our land.

Because abortion will not be solved with Justices on the Supreme court, or with the right President, or the right congress, it is a moral issue, therefore it will not be solved by force.

Conservative Voice on August 29, 2010 at 2:10 PM

True, none of the above can be counted on to protect the unborn. But you are forgetting that We The People have always had a mechanism in our Constitution, called a Constitutional Amendment, which when enacted, serves to let the People decide their nation’s fate.

A Constitutional Human Life Amendment, introduced by the late, great champion for the unborn, Congressman Henry Hyde, has been languishing in the shadows for decades.

At any time, we could have enacted this amendment to halt the slaughter of the unborn.

But truly, the hearts of the People have been hardened to allow this tragedy and the resultant chaos of immorality and political filth to flourish.

Hope Beck’s rally was an indicator of a turning point
and the hearts of the People unite to return this nation to more than just “fiscal sanity”. Without a right to life, and a respect for life, everything else we attempt will be meaningless and impotent.

And a little thing like American honor will remain buried under the corpses of the unborn, as it has been since January 22, 1973.

The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations. This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution.

The government of the United States is not in any sense founded upon the Christian religion.

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

rockmom on August 29, 2010 at 11:39 AM

Not to belabor the point, but there isn’t anything there about a “Christian nation”. I still think the terms are at least somewhat incompatible, and I say that as a Christian.

tigerlily, actually an amendment isn’t necessary…its already against the law…as we all have rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness…the key is to get the people to understand that being considered alive shouldn’t depend on being born.

This is verrrrry O/T but needs to be said , so plz allow me to tell this to you all :

We just returned after running some errands. We stopped @ 5-guys for a burger before returning home. There were 2 couples who stood out because of their t-shirts.
One man was wearing a yellow”don’t tread on me” t-shirt and his wife had a “Palin 2012″ t-shirt on.
Another man had a US flag t-shirt and a similar baseball-cap, with his wife wearing a ” faith, hope, charity”
t-shirt. Both the couples were on different parts of the restaurant and there were people walking up to them and shaking their hands and exchanging smiles and phone numbers. I’ve never ever seen this kind of behaviour in the last 15-20 yrs, not in this part of CA. Never. Conservatives keep a very very low profile here and never flaunt so openly their ahem..pride.
But today was different. I hugged the beautiful lady with “Palin 2012″ t-shirt , but they called out my number so I had to move along , before hugging and shaking hands with her husband.
Things are changing my friends, and changing for the best.
We conservatives are proud , coming out and openly associating with each other. In the middle of CA, in the middle of frikin Sillycon valley….. Whoddathunk that ?Yeeeeaaaahhh

Talking about restoring honor is all great and good, but as has been shown with this thread, its tough to visualize an America with “restored honor”. What would this America look like? How would it come about? In what ways would public policy affect such a restoration? I want to get out of the vague platitudes and into the reality of the situation. Specifically: exactly what has to be done, why, and by whom?

Beck and the rally were fine and so is his attempt to find the truth in US history that Allah calls a hodge-podge when Allah`s piece is the confused hodge-podge. Moral authority from Barack Obama to the WH? You may have thought that my dear, but most of us here certainly did not.

I must have read you wrong. What you wrote must have been some attempt at irony that I plain missed.